Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), the greatest
Jewish medieval philosopher, lived in Cairo although he was born in Spain.
There he was the chief physician to the vizier of the Sultan. Continuing
the allegorical method of Philo, and well-steeped in the Cabala, he attempted
to reconcile Jewish thought with Greek Philosophy. He held that the celestial
bodies were living, animated beings and that the heavenly spheres were
conscious and free. In his Guide to the Perplexed, written in Arabic in
1190, he states that all philosophers are agreed that the inferior world,
of earthly corruption and degeneration, is ruled by the natural virtues
and influences of the more refined celestial spheres. He even felt that
every human soul has its origin in the soul of the celestial sphere.

Maimonides believed in a human faculty
of natural divination and that in some men "imagination and divination
are so strong that they correctly forecast" the greater part of future
events. Nevertheless he upholds human free will and human responsibility
for our actions.

While he did believe in angels, he would
not accept the existence of demons -- saying that evil was mere privation.
Alleged cases of possession by demons were diagnosed by him as simple melancholy.
In accordance with Mosaic law, he accepted injunctions against the occult
practices of idolatry and magic. Yet he maintained that any practices known
to have a natural cause or proved efficacious by experience, as in the
use of medicinal charms, were permissible. This differentiation between
demonic and natural magic was to be emphasized by scholars for several
centuries.

Today we have little difficulty in finding
fault with the scientific methodology of even the greatest thinkers of
these times, and there is no doubt in my mind the professed magi of medieval
and Renaissance times were often the gullible dupes of many superstitious
fallacies. However magic was also the art of bringing divine life into
physical manifestation. We can see throughout cultural history that the
magi were artists who were able to infuse a delicately balanced state of
consciousness into their lives and work --one that opened the intuition
to the deepest levels of being and then exposed the insights attained to
intellectual scrutiny and carefully controlled craftsmanship. It is precisely
a process of this sort that underlies all genius. As history unfolds we
shall cite other examples in which the development of this creative state
of consciousness is clearly linked to esoteric or spiritual practices.

Albertus Magnus

Albertus Magnus

The leading figure in thirteenth century
learning was Albertus Magnus, a Dominican friar who was finally canonized
as a saint in 1931. Albertus, who has left us eight books on physics, six
on psychology, eight on astronomy, twenty-six on zoology, seven on botany,
five on minerals, one on geography, and three on life in general, was strongly
influenced by Aristotle. Believing god acts through natural causes in natural
phenomena, he conducted experiments in the field of animal behavior and
thus became an important forerunner of modern experimental science. He
was known to have had miraculous visions since childhood.

He was also an ardent philosopher of magic
and expressed a very positive attitude toward the magi of the Bible as
"masters who philosophize about the universe and ... search the future
in stars." This view still persists in the Roman Catholic Church.

For Albertus, heaven and the stars are
the mediums between the primal cause, or Aristotle's prime mover, and matter.
All things produced in nature or in art are influenced by celestial virtues.
The human being is an images mundo, or image of the universe, similar in
conception to the hermetic notion of human as a microcosm. His natural
magic thus made use of nature and the stars. It included astrology to find
a favored hour for beginning a comtemplated act, or an act of contemplation.
And Albertus was clearly interested in the transmutation of metals as well
as the use of psychic abilities to find metals within the earth. Towards
this last end, he recommended employing potions to clog and stupefy the
senses, thereby producing visions. He also advocated dream interpretation,
the use of herbs and magical stones, animal potions and images engraved
on gems. When these practices did not work, Albertus maintained the defects
were not to be found in the science of natural magic but in the souls of
those who abused it.

Renaissance Explorations

Cornelius Agrippa

Cornelius Agrippa

As for the art of invoking spirits, Cornelius
Agrippa, a magus whose influence was considerable in his day, has left
us a description:

If you would call any evil Spirit
to the Circle it first behooveth us to consider and to know his nature,
to which of the planets he agreeth, and what offices are distributed to
him from the planet.

This being known, let there be sought out
a place fit and proper for his invocation, according to the nature of the
planet, and the quality of the offices of the same Spirit, as near as the
same may be done.

For example, if his power be over the sea,
rivers or floods, then let a place be chosen on the shore, and so of the
rest.

In like manner, let there be chosen a convenient
time, both for the quality of the air -- which should be serene, quiet
and fitting for the spirits to assume bodies -- and for the quality and
nature of the planet, and so, too, of the Spirit: to wit, on his day, ignoring
the time wherein he ruleth, whether it be fortunate or unfortunate, day
or night, as the stars and Spirits do require.

These things being considered, let there
be a circle framed at the place elected, as well as for the defense of
the invocant as for the confirmation of the spirit. In the Circle itself
there are to be written the general Divine names, and those things which
do yield defense unto us; the Divine names which do rule the said planet,
with the offices of the spirit himself; and the names, finally, of the
good Spirits which bear rule and are able to bind and constrain the Spirit
which we intend to call.

If we would further fortify our Circle,
we may add characters and pentacles to the work. So also, and within or
without the Circle, we may frame an angular figure, inscribed with such
numbers as are congruent among themselves to our work. Moreover, the operator
is to be provided with lights, perfumes, unguents and medicines compounded
according to the nature of the Planet and Spirit, which do partly agree
with the Spirit, by reason of their natural and celestial virtue, and partly
are exhibited to the Spirit for religious and superstitious worship.

The operator must also be furnished with
holy and consecrated things, necessary as well for the defense of the invocant
and his followers as to serve for bonds which shall bind and constrain
the Spirits.

Such are holy papers, lamens, pictures,
pentacles, swords, sceptres, garments of convenient matter and color, and
things of like sort.

When all these are provided, the master
and his fellows being in the Circle, and all those things which he useth,
let him begin to pray with a loud voice and convenient gesture and countenance.
Let him make an oration unto God, and afterwards entreat the good Spirits.
If he will read any prayers, psalms or gospels for his defence, these should
take the first place.

Thereafter, let him begin to invocate the
Spirit which he desireth, with a gentle and loving enchantment to all the
coasts of the world, commemorating his own authority and power, Let him
then rest a little, looking about him to see if any Spirit do appear, which
if he delay, let him repeat his invocation as before, until he hath done
it three times.

If the Spirit be still pertinacious and
will not appear, let him begin to conjure him with the Divine Power, but
in such a way that all the conjurations and commemorations do agree with
the nature and offices of the spirit himself.

Reiterate the same three times, from stronger
to stronger, using objurations, contumelies, cursings, punishments, suspensions
from his office and power and the like.

After all these courses are finished, again
cease a little, and if any Spirit shall appear, let the invocant turn towards
him, and receive him courteously and, honestly entreating him, let him
require his name. Then proceeding further, let him ask whatsoever he will.

But if in anything the Spirit shall show
himself obstinate and lying, let him be bound by convenient conjurations,
and if you still doubt of any lie, make outside the Circle, with the consecrated
Sword, the figure of a triangle or pentacle, and compel the Spirit to enter
it. If you would have any promise confirmed by oath, stretch the sword
out of the Circle, and swear the Spirit by laying his hand upon the sword.

Then having obtained of the Spirit that
which you desire, or being otherwise contented, license him to depart with
courteous words, giving command unto him that he do no hurt.

If he will not depart, compel him by powerful
conjurations and, if need require, expel him by exorcism and by making
contrary fumigations.

When he is departed, go not out of the
Circle, but stay, making prayer for your defense and conservation, and
giving thanks unto God and the good angels. All these things being orderly
performed, you may depart.

But if your hopes are frustrated, and no
Spirit will appear, yet for this do not despair but, leaving the Circle,
return again at other times, doing as before.

Occult scholarship attempted to systematize
everything from tastes, smells, colors, and body parts, to herbs, charms,
spirits and dreams. It was an imaginative effort based primarily on introspection
and reflection, but without proper standards of measurement and adequate
means of correcting error. Nevertheless deep levels of the psyche were
involved in this effort to condense esoteric knowledge into meaningful
symbols. This in-depth study of the intuitive and emotional connections
between consciousness and the external world has a built-in difficulty
in that the exact conditions necessary to create subtle intuitions and
visions do not readily repeat themselves.

Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Foremost among the occult scientists of
his age was Phillipus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim otherwise
known as Paracelsus. He was born in Switzerland in 1493 and spent his entire
life wandering throughout Europe and acquiring a great reputation for medical
ability unorthodox views and a testy personality. For example, he was known
to have publicly burned established medical texts. It is very difficult
to distinguish his work from that of his students, interpreters, translators
and editors. Very little of his writing was published in his own lifetime
and few of his original manuscripts survive today. His German writings
were only noticed for their originality about twenty years after his death
when scholars saw in him an alternative to stale medieval and Latin learning.

Today he is recognized as the first modern
medical scientist, as the precursor of microchemistry, antisepsis, modern
wound surgery, and homeopathy. He wrote the first comprehensive work on
the causes, symptoms and treatment of syphilis. He proposed epileptics
should be treated as sick persons and not as lunatics possessed by @emons.
He studied bronchial illnesses in mining districts and was one of the first
people to recognize the connection between an industrial environment and
certain types of disease. Notwithstanding this accurate scientific bent,
his work is in close accord with the mystical alchemical tradition.

He wrote on furies in sleep, on ghosts
appearing after death, on gnomes in mines and underground, of nymphs, pygmies,
and magical salamanders.

His world view was animistic. Invisible
forces were always at work and the physician had to constantly be aware
of this fourth dimension in which he was moving. He utilized various techniques
for divination and astrology as well as magical amulets, talismans, and
incantations. He believed in a vital force radiating around every person
like a luminous sphere and acting at a distance. He was also credited with
the early use of what we now know as hypnotism. He believed that there
was a star in each human being.

John Dee

John Dee and Edmund Kelly
evoking a spirit

Another important occult scholar was John
Dee (1527-1608) who was one of the most celebrated and remarkable men of
the Elizabethan age. His world was half magical and half scientific; he
was noted as a philosopher, mathematician, technologist, antiquarian, as
well as a teacher and astrologer. He was the first Englishman to encourage
the founding of a royal library. He personally owned the largest library
in sixteenth century England, which contained over 4,000 volumes. He held
a large influence over the intellectual life of his times. He wrote the
preface for the first English translation of Euclid and is given credit
for the revival of mathematical learning in renaissance England. According
to Lynn Thorndike in The History of Magic and Experimental Science:

For John Dee the world was a lyre
from which a skillful player could draw new harmonies. Every thing and
place in the world radiated force to all other parts and received rays
from them. There were also relations of sympathy and antipathy between
things. Species, both spiritual and natural, flowed off from objects with
light or without it, impressing themselves not only on the sight but on
the other senses, and especially coalescing in our imaginative spirit and
working marvels in us. Moreover, the human soul and specific form of every
thing has many more and more excellent virtues and operations than has
the human body or the matter of the thing in question. Similarly the invisible
rays of the planets or their secret influence surpass their sensible rays
or light.

He maintained these invisible influences
could be made manifest through the art of crystal gazing, which involved
entering into a trance-like consciousness. He conducted many experiments
in which he claimed to be in contact with angels through the use of a medium.

Dee's philosophy was embodied in a work
entitled Hieroglyphic Monad Explained Mathematically, Cabalistically and
Anagogically. This book, which served as an important foundation of the
Rosicrucian movement, attempted to synthesize and condense all of the then
current mystical traditions within the symbolism characterizing the planet
Mercury.

Queen Elizabeth herself was very taken
with Dee's ideas. She appointed him as her court philosopher and astrologer,
and asked for personal instruction into the abstruse symbolic meanings
of his book. Nevertheless he was still a very controversial figure because
of his reputation as a conjurer. Dee lost favor with the court when James
ascended to the throne.

The Rosicrucians

This same fusion of world views is to be
found in the teachings of the Rosicrucian movement, which caused quite
a public stir in seventeenth century England, France, Italy and Germany.
Only a limited number of men, most notably John Dee's student Robert Fludd,
openly identified themselves as Rosicrucians. Most of the manifestos that
caused a great uproar were published anonymously. Emphasizing earlier notions
common to hermeticism, alchemy and the Cabala, the Rosicrucian documents
proclaimed the existence of a hidden brotherhood of scholars and explorers
who were united in teaching the deepest mysteries of nature, free from
religious and political prejudice.

The following excerpt is taken from the
last paragraph of Fame of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross -- an
early manifesto first printed in 1614 and translated into English by Thomas
Vaughan in 1652:

And although at this time we make
no mention either of our names, or meetings, yet nevertheless every ones
opinion shal assuredly come to our hands, in what language soever it be;
nor any body shal fail, who so gives but his name to speak with some of
us, either by word of mouth, or else if there be some lett in writing.
And this we say for a truth, That whosoever shal earnestly, and from his
heart, bear affection unto us, it shal be beneficial to him in goods, body
and soul; but he that is false-hearted, or only greedy of riches, the same
first of all shal not be able in any manner of wise to hurt us, but bring
himself to utter ruine and destruction. Also our building (although one
hundred thousand people had very near seen and beheld the same) shal for
ever remain untouched, undestroyed, and hidden to the wicked world, sub
unibra alarum tuarum Jehova.,

At this same time Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
in England was also calling for a brotherhood that would foster the "advancement
of learning". His effort ultimately led to the founding of the Royal Society
in 1660. During his association with King James in England, Bacon was careful
never to publicly connect himself with the Rosicrucians or any other occult
movements. However, in a work published after his death, The New Atlantis,
he describes his own version of a utopian society, revealing his sympathies
and possible connection with this movement, and the Invisible College.

There are those today who believe Bacon
to have been a spiritual adept of the highest rank -- founder of the Rosicrucians,
secret author of the works attributed to William Shakespeare, the prime
mover behind the English rennaissance, a man who contributed thousands
of words to the English language and who first articulated the spiritual
ideals upon which the United States of America was founded.

In The New Atlantis, the governor
of the invisible island of which Bacon writes, describes the preeminent
reason for the greatness of his society:

It was the erection and institution
of an order, or society, which we call Salomon's House; the noblest foundation,
as we think, that was ever upon the earth, and the lantern of this kingdom.
It is dedicated to the study of the works and creatures of God. Some think
it beareth the founder's name a little corrupted, as if it should be Solamona's
House. But the records write it as it is spoken. So as I take it to be
denominate of the king of the Hebrews, which is famous with you, and no
stranger to us; for we have some parts of his works which with you are
lost; namely, that Natural History which he wrote of all plants, from the
Cedar of Libanus to the moss that groweth out of the wall; and of all things
that have life and motion. This maketh me think that our king finding himself
to symbolize, in many things, with that king of the Hebrews (which lived
many years before him) honoured him with the title of this foundation.
And I am the rather induced to be of this opinion, for that I find in ancient
records, this order or society is sometimes called Salomon's House, and
sometimes the College of the Six Days' Works; whereby I am satisfied that
our excellent king had learned from the Hebrews that God had created the
world, and all that therein is, within six days: and therefore he instituted
that house, for the finding out of the true nature of all things (whereby
God ought have the more glory in the workmanship of them, and men the more
fruit in the use of them), did give it also that second name....

The Invisible College was an important foundation
of the Rosicrucian teaching.

The Rosicrucian Invisible
College

It was a building with wings, which existed
nowhere and yet united the entire secret movement. The high initiates of
this society, the R. C. Brothers, were said to be invisible and were able
to teach their knowledge of a higher social and scientific order to worthy
disciples who themselves became invisible. The symbolism of the Invisible
College is very complex and further complicated by the social furor that
resulted from it. As adventurers and scholars desiring a new social order
sought to make contact with the fabled R. C. Brothers, an increasing public
outcry resulted in witchhunts and persecutions.

In one sense, the Invisible College refers
to that type of teaching and inspiration that occurs to one in dreams.
An allegory, written in 1651 by Thomas Vaughan, is quite suggestive of
this theory:

The Invisible Magic Mountain

There is a mountain situated in
the midst of the earth or center of the world, which is both small and
great. It is soft, also above measure hard and stony. It is far off and
near at hand, but by the providence of God invisible. In it are hidden
the most ample treasures, which the world is not able to value. This mountain
-- by envy of the devil, who always opposes the glory of God and the happiness
of man is compassed about with very cruel beasts and ravening bird -- which
make the way thither both difficult and dangerous. And therefore until
now -- because the time is not yet come the way thither could not be sought
after nor found out. But now at last the way is to be found by those that
are worthy -- but nonetheless by every man's self-labor and endeavors.

To this mountain you shall go in a certain
night -- when it comes -- most long and most dark, and see that you prepare
yourself by prayer. Insist upon the way that leads to the Mountain, but
ask not of anywhere the way lies. Only follow your Guide, who will offer
himself to you and will meet you in the way. But you are not to know him.
This Guide will bring you to the Mountain at midnight, when all things
are silent and dark. It is necessary that you arm yourself with a resolute
and heroic courage, lest you fear those things that will happen, and so
fall back. You need no sword nor any other bodily weapons; only call upon
God sincerely and heartily.

When you have discovered the Mountain the
first miracle that will appear is this: A most vehement and very great
wind will shake the Mountain and shatter the rocks to pieces. You will
be encountered also by lions and dragons and other terrible beasts; but
fear not any of these things. Be resolute and take heed that you turn not
back, for your Guide -- who brought you thither -- will not suffer any
evil to befall you. As for the treasure, it is not yet found, but it is
very near.

After these things and near the daybreak
there will be a great calm, and you will see the Day-star arise, the dawn
will appear, and you will perceive a great treasure. The most important
thing in it and the most perfect is a certain exalted Tincture, with which
the world -- if it served God and were worthy of such gifts -- might be
touched and turned into most pure gold.

This Tincture being used as your guide
shall teach you will make you young when you are old, and you will perceive
no disease in any part of your bodies. By means of this Tincture also you
will find pearls of an excellence which cannot he imagined. But do not
you arrogate anything to yourselves because of your present power, but
be contented with what your Guide shall communicate to you. Praise God
perpetually for this His gift, and have a special care that you do not
use it for worldly pride, but employ it in such works as are contrary to
the world. Use it rightly and enjoy it as if you had it not. Likewise live
a temperate life and beware of all sin. Otherwise your Guide will forsake
you and you will be deprived of this happiness. For know of a truth: whosoever
abuses this Tincture and does not live exemplarily, purely and devoutly
before men, will lose this benefit and scarcely any hope will be left of
recovering it afterward.

In another sense, the Invisible College referred
to an influential, though hidden, political, artistic, and scientific movement
which included Francis Bacon and other notable Renaissance figures dedicated
to the teachings of the perennial philosophy. For example there is evidence
connecting Robert Boyle, who developed the laws relating the pressure of
a gas at a fixed temperature to the inverse of its volume, with the college.
Sir Isaac Newton also indicated an awareness of this movement.

. Francis Bacon, "Selections From New Atlantis,"
in Edward A. Tiryakian (ed.), On the Margin of the Visible. New
York: John Wiley and Sons, 1974, p. 143. This volume is the first product
of a wave of scholars who are attempting sociological analyses of esoteric
movements, modern and historical.

. Francis Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment.

. Thomas Vaughan, "The Holy Mountain, A
Rosicrucian Allegory," in A Christian Rosenkreutz Anthology. For
a modern version of the same story see Rene Daumal, Mt. Analogue.
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1968.